Commentary by Rev. Isaac Watts:

Pray tell me sir, when I shall be so happy to see you next, whether Sir R. Blackmore's preface to his Alfred does not convince you that a Christian poet has happier advantages than a pagan? His prefaces are certainly better in their kind than his poems, as several gentlemen of good taste have acknowledged. And why should not some great genius seize those advantages, and leave old Homer no longer right to the supreme laurel? But I forget myself and my years; though when I am upon such a subject, "rejuvenescit calamus renuentibus annis."